MOOD BOARD

« Songs of love and exile »

1. LIGHT & COLOUR: THE TWILIGHT MEDITERRANEAN

  • Warm, saturated palette: ochre, blue-grey, olive green, limestone white.
  • Natural light, sometimes harsh (prison sequences or in the souks), sometimes golden (twilight, intimate scenes).
  • Mediterranean atmosphere: like Call Me by Your Name by Luca Guadagnino or A Prophet by Jacques Audiard, but with a North African flavour.

Visual inspiration :

  • The white-washed streets of Larache, the golden reflections of the sea in Nice.
  • The threatening skies of the sequences on the ferry, the backlighting of Tangier.
  • Subdued lighting in traditional Moroccan interiors (yellow lamps, curtains filtering the evening light).

2.ARCHITECTURE OF THE PAST: A CITY OF MEMORY

  • Jewish, Muslim and Catholic cemeteries in Larache – silent symbols of a past coexistence.
  • Old Andalusian houses, deserted libraries, market stalls and old-fashioned cafés.
  • The setting becomes a character: each place carries a memory – Nice, Marseille, Tangiers, Larache.Inspiration: the films of Elia Suleiman, the framing of Pedro Costa.

3. DOCUMENTARY AESTHETICS & POETIC INTROSPECTION

  • A discreet camera, sometimes on the shoulder, in the scenes of the documentary film being shot.
  • Suspended moments (walks, silences, glances) break up the linear narrative.
  • Still, contemplative shots embody absence, lack and the haunting past.

Inspiration: Taste of Cherry by Abbas Kiarostami, The Time That Remains by Elia Suleiman, Tarkovsky for sensitive memory

4. ARCHIVES & REAL IMAGES

  • Archive footage integrated into the narration: Pathé, videos of Jean Genet in Chatila, photos of Jaffa, historical documents on the years of lead.
  • Super 8 / VHS / black and white textures to reinforce the link with the past and forgotten voices.

Inspiration: Sans Soleil by Chris Marker, Cemetery of Splendour by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

5. INTIMACY OF BODIES, WORDS AND SILENCES

  • Sensual but discreet sequences between Youssef and Yafa: simple gestures, glances, brushing against each other.
  • Separation between spoken words and unspoken wounds (father’s silences, Yahya’s reticence).
  • A dialogue between intimacy and history: everybody is the bearer of an exile.

Inspiration: Before Midnight by Richard Linklater, The Bridges of Madison County by Clint Eastwood.

6. BREATHING POLITICAL LIFE THROUGH INTIMACY

  • Dark prisons, interrogations, silent torture (scenes of a young Yahya).
  • Genet’s solidarity with the Palestinians: campfires, refugee camps, voice-over readings.
  • Collective rebirth: citizens’ meetings, hope around the reopening of the cemetery.

Inspiration: The Battle of Algiers by Pontecorvo, L’armée des ombres by Jean-Pierre Melville.

7. MUSIC & SOUNDS OF EXILE

  • Discreet Arabo-Andalusian, notes of oud, distant vocal complaints.
  • Vibrant silences, the sounds of the sea, the creaking of the ferry, the murmur of the alleyways.
  • Off-air readings of Genet and Yafa, against a backdrop of landscapes in transition.

Sound inspiration: Said Chraibi, Halim El-Dabh, Le Trio Joubran.